Last Sunday, my son and I drove by a totem pole, used centuries ago for banning people (in Dutch: banpaal). There are still some left in the Netherlands. The cancel culture is a contemporary equivalent from that ancient practice, and is also known as ostracism. A significant difference is that the new practice lacks the (official) authorization of the old practice.
Hence, the current cancel culture is usually about an audience on “social” media (eg, Twitter) performing a trial by media, including verdict and punishment. The audience acts as a judge, a jury and an executioner.
These trials by media often involve a person in a role of relative power (eg, academic, mayor, politician, writer). The reason for that trial by media is about an individual’s non-conformity with a certain group identity. Essentially, this conflict is about a Great Divide (my blogs) between (eg, cultural, sexual) Identity versus Power (my blogs), like Nationalism vs Globalism (my blogs).
Following Isaac Newton‘s third law of motion (ie, every action has an equal and opposite reaction), these attacks on roles of Power are creating a backlash. Perhaps, the best example of such a backlash was the unique and unlikely coalition of conservatives, populists and white working class, enabling the presidency of Donald Trump (eg, CNN-2018, NYT-2016, Pew-2020).
Again, following Newton’s third law of motion, Trump narrowly lost his 2020 re-election bid, probably by labeling Covid-19 as a Democratic hoax (February 2020), a Chinese virus (March 2020), or simply denying its existence, while US fatalities will (probably) amount to (at least) 0.2% of its population (ie, 660,000 projected deaths vs 542,000 today). Death creates unity too.
Identity comes in many shapes and forms while Power has only one, being force. The situation in Myanmar is an example: a coalition of various (cultural) identities against a military that acts with brute force. The outcome is predictable, and will be similar as in Belarus and Hong Kong.
Moreover, identity cannot and thus does not unite. A common enemy – threatening power – does. This is probably the reason why Biden and Trump agree about USA versus China. Ultimately, the focus on identity is a losing one.
A quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, and statesman: “Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one.”
You say (2018) by Lauren Daigle
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, You say I am Yours
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.
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